Dear Mum,
I am not here to talk about your death despite the fact that for years, I have always started your story this way. It has been almost a decade and my sister and I miss you terribly. I feel that any daughter will always feel this way. Our sadness is just more pronounced on days like these when everyone is celebrating Mother’s Day with their mums while we are here clinging to our memories of you.

It is painful to write about you so we never did and if someone asks about the wine we named after you, they’d hear our voices crack as we tell its story. My sister always says that even if Basi Puro is the original wine from the brand, it is the creation of your wine Basidina that inspired us to actually establish the business. We were desperate to immortalise you. We wanted a reminder of the purity of your love for us. Making it soothed the pain somehow and it gave us a different perspective about life, too.

We made wine that reminds us of rainy days we spent at home because of one memory of you. I remember you sitting on your favourite chair at the porch while looking at the little garden that you and dad worked on when my sister and I were still little. I wish I could go back to that memory, mum, so I could tell you that we will be okay and so I could tell you everything that we went through and every single thing that brought us happiness despite your absence.

The wine we made for you is simple. It is dry and quite fragrant. It is our ode to you. We named it Basidina since it is made mostly from sugarcane. It has chardonnay, too! The details are not as important today but I do think you will like this wine. We love you, mum. Happy mother’s day!

Sissel